One of my friends asks:

Q: Could you help me know where I can buy an English conversation CD with Australian or New Zealand accent? In my country most CDs come with British and American accents. I am interested in learning English with any different accent, so I can improve my listening.

A: Yes, it can be hard to find something good with Australian English, especially outside of Australia. I recommend the series ‘Understanding Everyday Australian’. It is a good series that I have used with my classes before. There are three books with CDs.

I tried to find these books and CDs on Amazon, but they are not there. These links are through fishpond, an Australian online bookstore. They ship to most countries in the world and are cheaper than Amazon anyway (especially with the Australian dollar being low at the moment), so I’d recommend buying them on fishpond. Remember the prices are in Australian dollars – not US dollars.

Do you want to try for free?
If you want to try a FREE lesson from the book, download these:

• PDF: CHAPTER 9 (226Kb)
• MP3: CHAPTER 9 (1MB)

Put your answer in the comments!

Today, an article from a guest writer. It is about learning German.

German people will really appreciate you if you can speak their language with the correct pronunciation. Most of the words in European language can be found in German language also. So when you speak the only difference is the accent.

Germans will love to hear you speaking those words in their accent. This requires proper listening, proper practice and proper usage. You will need the assistance of a native German speaker to get familiarized with the pronunciation. But it will be generally difficult for everyone to find a native German instructor. But you can get audio materials that can guide you in mastering German words.

1. You can visit the places of people where native Germans live. Try to speak in German with your friends who know it.

2.There are many social networking sites in internet that allows people who speak German to get together.

3.Writing articles and stories in German language will help you learn the advanced application of the language and grammar.

4.Translation of articles written in other languages to German will help you to get more familiar with the constructs of the language quickly.

5.Online sites give opportunity to publish your creations in German language so that others can read and evaluate it.

You can learn German from audio courses or CD based courses. You will get a systematic review of the basics. These courses basically give more importance to conversations skills. You will hear a lot of German pronounced correctly in these courses. Solve your problems and make your way clear with program for learning German. It will help you a lot in learning German language.

Most of this software is interactively designed so that the learner can easily respond. They often contain a built in dictionary for easy reference. You can respond to tests to verify what you have studied. The correctness of pronunciation can be also verified using multimedia techniques. Some of them have picture based illustrations for learning German words. This will help you to memorize German words easily. Click on yahoo directory-German language to learn German language easily.

Many of these tips are great for learning English too! To improve your English you should write something EVERYDAY! You can do this is a book, on your computer or in the Ask John English Discussion forum, or your blog!

WHAT TO DO:

1) Choose a topic to write about. You might just describe what you did yesterday, or you might write your opinion about something.

2) Write about it for 10 – 20 minutes. Just write. Don’t edit. This step is a chance to build your ability to THINK in English.

3) Read what you have written. You can now make changes to it.

4) If you are brave – share your writing with others!

A great place to share is on your blog in the Ask John English site.

GO ON! GIVE IT A TRY FOR ONE WEEK! You will be surprised how helpful it is!